Consider this cake decorating for dummies—foolproof ways to make a layer cake look super impressive without a lot of fancy tools. Two even use store-bought candy.

One of these designs requires a piping bag of sorts, although we're sure a Ziploc would work. And number 3? Malted milk balls! How mod and futuristic does that look? And you could be as sloppy as you wanted with the frosting underneath.

These are giving us all kinds of ideas about things we could stick into frosting to create a pattern—marshmallows, gumballs, an ombre pattern with similar-shade jelly beans...